4/9/11

Estimating Cut Quality In Diamond Rings

By Adriana Noton


Buying Diamond Rings can be a difficult task for the beginner. Much needs to be learned about comparing stones before making a selection. Cut, color, clarity, and carat weight are the four characteristics commonly used in evaluating stones. Cut is of primary importance, and it is the hardest to understand and evaluate.

Getting educated about diamonds allows you to converse intelligently with salespeople about the stones. Most stores will help you understand the basics, but it is better to have some fundamental understanding beforehand.

Stones can be cut in various shapes, square, emerald, oval, etc., but cut also refers to how a rough stone was systematically cut and how much brilliance or fire the cut gives it. This work will determine the proportions and how its facets and angles relate to one another. Symmetry will indicate precision work. The polish of a gem's surface, or finish, will let light pass through. When all these are done correctly the stone will give off its optimum sparkle.

These are the hardest substance in nature, four times as hard as sapphires, which are the next hardest. They are also brittle. Careful analysis, sometimes lasting a whole year, is completed before decisions are made about how to cut. There are four cleavage directions. An optimum cutting direction is chosen based on the crystal's orientation and location of flaws or inclusions. These will be cut away or hidden during cutting, if too much carat weight will not be lost.

If the gem is well cut, light will enter through the table, the top flat plane of a stone and travel to the pavilion, the sloping bottom surfaces, where it is reflected across to the other side and again back out through the table. A poorly cut diamond will allow light entering to reach the facets and then leak out from the sides or bottom.

Visually inspecting the stone, through a jeweler's lupe, will reveal the quality of its cut. First see if it appears that the reflected light is uniformly dispersed across the whole stone. Look for a table that is symmetrically centered on the stone, with edges that form sharp points. See if the culet, the point at the bottom, is small, centered, and polished without chips.

Then look to see if the sides of the square are straight or bowed out or in. A square is formed by extending the edges of the octagonal table out toward the points of the facets. Studying a diamond photo for a little while will help to find the square the first time. A square in the middle will easily be seen.

This square will indicate the proportion of the table dimension relative to the whole stone's diameter.If it's sides are straight the stone will produce a brilliant white light. If they bow inward slightly this indicates a smaller proportion and it will produce a rainbow effect, or more fire. If they bow outward, the proportion of the table is too large for an ideal cut. These rules of proportion and inspections will give a good idea of Diamond Rings Toronto cut quality.




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